They're bad, but no brand...

[bushytails]

Got this board in the recap pile yesterday... Any guess what these are? (other than crap, I know that much!) Checked the brand-sorted photo collection, and didn't see them...

http://www.bushytails.net/~randyg/un...0caps%2001.jpg
http://www.bushytails.net/~randyg/un...0caps%2002.jpg
http://www.bushytails.net/~randyg/un...0caps%2003.jpg
http://www.bushytails.net/~randyg/un...0caps%2004.jpg

Of most interest is the two in the middle, that have lifted the cans clear off the plugs, making them look taller than the others.

I'm going to rule the board (santafe-km) as not-worth-fixing... out of some major brand (I believe it was a Compaq) athlon 1ghz system. seems like a total crap board (only two dimms, onboard video with no agp slot, etc), and if I do all >470, there's about 20 to replace... caps worth more than the board is.

There's a total of about 10 different series of caps on the board (some 85c, some 105c, for example), but they're all vented electrolytics, and all of the same brand.

In any case, if anyone knows the brand, they probably should be stuck onto the photo gallery.


--Randy

[Topcat]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

I've rebuilt a few of those. The 2 center caps get extremely hot, when you recap it, take note if their temp after recapping.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

The 1500, 10V types with the little shield and the "LXV" are United Chemicon LXV series (assuming they aren't fake). LXV is a good, mature, Lo-Z series, but the KZE or KZH are lower Z. Considerations here are:

* Fake?

* Design issue (the Z isn't low enough for the VRM circuit)?

* Got too hot (impeded air flow or thermal design goof)?

* The powdered iron cores of the inductors over-heated, reducing the magnetic properties and increasing the ripplecurrent through the caps?

[kc8adu]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

they look like chemi-con but the dot in the logo makes me think counterfiets.
never seen the dot on any other chemicon.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

Good eye, kc8! I've got some LXVs and LXZs at work I can look at tomorrow. Those may be fakes.

[UraBahn]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

AFAIK those Chemicon look-alikes with the dot in the shield are Samyoungs. They are very common in Emachines (they're not just on the motherboard but also sometimes in the PSUs of those machines as well).

[PeteS in CA]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

Well, I looked at KMF, LXV, LXZ, and KZE samples and none have a dot in the shield logo.

[bushytails]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

Hrmm. The thick plottens.

--Randy

[Chris1992]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

And what was not mentioned is that samyoung is Chemicon's korean arm and their (Samyoung's) caps are known to fail.

<off-topic>Urabahn, if you value your comp at all, replace that powmax PSU. Their bad circuit design makes them likely to kill the board if they fail. </off-topic>

[UraBahn]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

@Chris1992: Well, I'd really like to replace that POS PowMax PSU, but I am flat out broke. I've already changed some of the caps inside to (Nippon) Chemicon, and I changed the fan on it several times. I just hope that this setup lasts long enough for my finaid to come in. (And yes, I can justify a new PSU as a college expense, as I'm going to be extensively using the computer for my college classes.)

[MD Willington]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

The Santa-Fe mainboards were made by a Korean company called Trigem, the one I had go TU had Chemi-cons, and the power fets were nuked...

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

I see a black mark on the northbridge chip! The chipset could have been fried.

[Chris1992]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

@ Rjarrrpcgp: I think that's just something reflecting off the NB.

[UraBahn]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

Hmmm, given the numerous problems some users reported with Samyoung capacitors, shouldn't they be added to the Badcaps list? Any pictures of them should highlight the dot in the logo to avoid confusing them with the other (hopefully good) Chemicon brands.

I was also wondering if the failed Chemicon caps that some users saw were actually Samyoungs.

[AK0R]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

Looks like the VRMs were replaced, too (notice the solder flux on the legs and case for all four).

It appears to have a space for an AGP socket, but without one installed.

Bushy, if you don't want it, I'd take it off your hands for the cost of shipping. Could be a good board to experiment on.

[Rainbow]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

The mofsets look like original, just not well cleaned. It looks much worse when replaced (at least when I do : )

[gg1978]

Re: They're bad, but no brand...

I've seen those caps fail too, i've replaced 4 of those boards (Trigem Santa Fe) motherboards.. All of them were HP microATX systems, with Tbird 1.0Ghz microprocessors.. They have the Via 8364A northbridge and 686A southbridge IIRC.. All the ones that failed on me had those two caps by the toroid inductors fail out in the exact same way.. I'm wondering whether those are actually ChemiCon LXV's, or if they're knockoffs.. I mean if you get any electrolytic cap too hot, it'll overheat and fail out, and Tbirds are known for their power consumption.. I have one of these boards that has seen very little use, so it's caps are still good, but i'm sure if i were to run it all the time, it would have the caps fail too.